Hello Everybody! :) It's Megan again with "Fursttimes"
For those of you who don't live in New York,
Below-freezing temperatures, runny-noses, and snow can get pretty over-rated when you're stuck with them for 4 months out of the year. Although snow is not necessarily the most menacing of the three hardships mentioned above, it is the one that most readily comes to mind when one says "winter." Therefore, over the years I have, maybe subconsciously - maybe not, mentally "blacklisted" it.
When my nieces and nephew lived nearby, they would come over when it snowed to go sledding on our neighbor's hill, making it impossible for me to justify staying inside (i.e., staying warm and comfortable). Of course the joy of sliding down a hill with screaming kids and then pulling them back UP the hill was always worth it. I'm just one of those people who forgets how green the grass really is on the other side of the fence when I have come as far as the fence dividing the two fields and am actually faced with the decision of whether to jump over it or not.
However, I did jump! This past week we got dumped with 2 ft. of snow and I decided that I should go outside and enjoy it with my little sister, to share in her joy like big sisters should, even if it means a little loss of warmth and personal comfort. Plus, the power was out, inside.
I suggested, since we were outside freezing anyway, that we might as well build a snowman. Shannon happily agreed. This is the girl who is just as happy in snow in winter as she is in freezing cold mountain water in summer. Translation - as happy as I would be in a jacuzzi or snuggled up with a book at any time of year.
I had come to accept this absurdity - after all, we've been sisters for 14 years, but I was not prepared to find that she could not roll a snowball! Of course, it could have been a clever ploy on her part, as my demonstrations became the bottom and middle sections of our snowman and all she ended up having to do was roll the head. I must admit though, that, now that she is bigger than I am, I never would have been able to stack the snowman without her help.
She also found the perfect material to use for the nose and buttons and hair while I went looking for the mouth and arms. We were very proud of our craftsmanship and, taking a step back from the snowman, realized that it resembled a favorite family friend, making him even more endearing.
Dad must have noticed that the house was unusually quiet because he came out to take pictures. Out to the insulated back porch, that is. :) Shannon and I had fun posing with "Walter" for our paparazzi (or paparazzo in singular), who even went so far as to say that it was the best snowman he had ever seen! He went too far however, in my estimation at least, when he followed that compliment soon afterwards with, "Please go shovel off the roofs now before lunch."
I was suddenly reminded of the many reasons I didn't like snow.
Walter did make good company though. :) So I guess for the answer to the question of whether or not any good thing can come out of snow, you'll just have to look and see:
* Also check out the story of Nathaneal's introduction to Jesus, in John 1, to see the real story behind the title of this blog.
